I wouldn't use baking soda to buffer the water. It contains to many impurities. Also, if you mess around with baking soda to buffer the water, you can't use that pH/KH chart to determine your CO2, as it won't be accurate. Try Seachem Alkaline Buffer and Equilibrium if you want to buffer the water. If the parameter is not that extreme, I would not play with the pH/KH.
Low tap KH and pH
From the tap, my water has a pH of 5.95 (per health dept test) and a KH of .8 (per my test kit). I've been raising fish for years and always heard that beneficial bacteria colonies needed a pH of at least 6 to survive so I'm buffering my water to KH of 7.5 with baking soda and injecting CO2 to a pH of 6.6 to achieve 35ish ppm. Question is do I need to do this? I'm growing Wisteria, Glasso, Amazon Sword, Anubia, Java Fern, and 4 I don't know the names of. My lighting is 2x 25 Watt T-8 @ 6700K and 2x30 Watt T-8 10,000K in a 30G tank, ei dosing w/ Plantex micro 3x per week. Do I need to buffer cuz I've seen several threads here saying they don't with soft water. I'm just tyrin to reconcile what I thought I knew about fish only tanks and this new world of planted tanks that I'm TOTALLY obsessed with. Any and all knowledgeable help is WELCOME and greatly appreciated!!!!
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Prilosec lawsuits
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Prilosec lawsuits
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Ok, I appreciate the impurities and I asked for advice and you gave it to me. But why wouldn't KH be KH with regards to the CO2 chart regardless of how it got to be that number? Just curious.
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Glass pipe pictures
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Glass pipe pictures
What the hell? Every piece of advice you gave is WRONG.I wouldn't use baking soda to buffer the water. It contains to many impurities. Also, if you mess around with baking soda to buffer the water, you can't use that pH/KH chart to determine your CO2, as it won't be accurate. Try Seachem Alkaline Buffer and Equilibrium if you want to buffer the water. If the parameter is not that extreme, I would not play with the pH/KH.
What impurities are in baking soda? Name them.
Why can't you use the pH/KH chart? Baking soda is bicarbonates. That's what the chart is based on.
Baking soda is fine. It works well and it's cheap. But your water is fine Tdon. Don't mess with it. There is no reason to.
Thats kind of an odd statement since using baking soda in ones tank is pretty common. Although most people nowadays have come to accept its unnecessary in most circumstances. And are you sure about it messing up the pH/KH relationship... it is a bicarbonate after all. But the pH/KH chart doesnt work accurately most of the time for most tanks anyway, I never believe it.I wouldn't use baking soda to buffer the water. It contains to many impurities. Also, if you mess around with baking soda to buffer the water, you can't use that pH/KH chart to determine your CO2, as it won't be accurate. Try Seachem Alkaline Buffer and Equilibrium if you want to buffer the water. If the parameter is not that extreme, I would not play with the pH/KH.
Thanks guys. So what you're saying (I think) is that I should just use my tap water, no bicarb, and adjust my auto pH to the approporate setting for 30-35 ppm CO2 based on my KH even though that's gonna be like 5.5ish? What I was told about BB not surving below a pH of 6 is bull?
Thanks again for your help!!!
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Laguna Beach Resort Jomtien
Thanks again for your help!!!
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Laguna Beach Resort Jomtien
If your tank is doing really well... don't change anything just becuase you read that someone else does something different.
My 2 cents... I think some of those plants you have like high carbonates ( as in gH and kH). That is probably why they are doing so well. I have some plants that just melt when I change the hardness in my tanks.... so if you really do want to try no baking soda... bring down the levels slowly.. ie don't cold turkey your tank on no baking soda Just put in less at each water change and see how your plants react. If they don't do well... put the missing baking soda back into your regimine.
oh yeah, one more thing. Just be aware when you cut down or stop the baking soda your kH and gH will change.. so you'll have to start measuring it and readjust for it.
[added for the Mr. Don't Use Baking Soda guy.... SeaChem alkaline buffer.. is mostly bicarbonate i.e. baking soda! They just added a weak acid in dry powder form so you get the buffering effect. I would bet that somebody here works in a pet store or fish store and would rather make the 10 bucks a container for the Seachem stuff than tell people to go buy a box for under a buck at the grocery store. I use plain old baking soda in my cichlid tanks and my reef friends use plain old baking soda sometimes too... nothing special about the fancy brands at all except the price.]
My 2 cents... I think some of those plants you have like high carbonates ( as in gH and kH). That is probably why they are doing so well. I have some plants that just melt when I change the hardness in my tanks.... so if you really do want to try no baking soda... bring down the levels slowly.. ie don't cold turkey your tank on no baking soda Just put in less at each water change and see how your plants react. If they don't do well... put the missing baking soda back into your regimine.
oh yeah, one more thing. Just be aware when you cut down or stop the baking soda your kH and gH will change.. so you'll have to start measuring it and readjust for it.
[added for the Mr. Don't Use Baking Soda guy.... SeaChem alkaline buffer.. is mostly bicarbonate i.e. baking soda! They just added a weak acid in dry powder form so you get the buffering effect. I would bet that somebody here works in a pet store or fish store and would rather make the 10 bucks a container for the Seachem stuff than tell people to go buy a box for under a buck at the grocery store. I use plain old baking soda in my cichlid tanks and my reef friends use plain old baking soda sometimes too... nothing special about the fancy brands at all except the price.]
Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate...it only affects KH (carbonates). Sodium has nothing to do with GH, GH is a measure of calcium and magnesium. Just a side note. 
Adding baking soda will also add sodium to your water, but usually the amounts aren't sufficient to noticably affect sodium sensitive fish or adversely affect plant growth.
Adding baking soda will also add sodium to your water, but usually the amounts aren't sufficient to noticably affect sodium sensitive fish or adversely affect plant growth.
WOW after reading this I need to take some chemstry classes. But it sounds like you guys know what your doing and your tanks look great so I will listen to all that you have to say.
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